1 This publication presents monthly data for registrations of new motor vehicles.

2 The statistics in this publication use the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), adopted by the State and Territory motor vehicle registration authorities. The information contained in the VIN allows more accurate classification of vehicles. In the case of some States, data processed using the VIN system are not strictly comparable with data processed prior to December 1990.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

3 Motor vehicle registration statistics are obtained from State and Territory motor vehicle registration authorities. The statistics reflect information recorded in registration documents. While the statistics do not depart significantly from actual registrations during the period, a number of registrations processed in a month actually relate to vehicles registered prior to that month.

4 New motor vehicle registrations are obtained from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia registration authorities on a weekly basis. Other registries provide data for each calendar month. The ABS processes the weekly registration data provided for the above-mentioned States and includes data for the relevant month in this publication. Data referring to the next month are withheld and included in the next month’s publication. In some months, the ABS processes five weeks of data for the above States, while other months include four weeks of data. In months where five weeks of data are processed and depending on the actual pattern of registration processing, it is possible that there will be a greater number of registrations recorded because the carry forward from the previous month is likely to be greater than the carry over to the next month.

5 The scope of the statistics:

includes:

passenger vehicles

light commercial vehicles

trucks

buses

motorcycles (note: not included in totals)

vehicles with diplomatic and consular plates

State and Commonwealth owned vehicles

excludes:

vehicles belonging to the defence forces

recreation vehicles such as trail bikes and sand dune buggies (in those States where registration is required).

SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT

6 Seasonal adjustment is a means of removing the estimated effects of normal seasonal variation and "trading day effects" from the original series so that the effects of other influences can be more clearly recognised. "Trading day effects" reflect the varying amounts of activity on different days of the week and the different numbers of days of the week in any month (i.e. the number of Sundays, Mondays etc.). Adjustment is also made for Easter which may affect the March and April estimates differently.

7 Seasonal adjustment does not remove from the series the effect of irregular or non-seasonal influences (e.g. the introduction of new models, processing delays, industrial disputes).

8 Irregular influences that are highly volatile can make it difficult to interpret the series even after adjustment for seasonal variation.

9 Extreme care should be exercised in using the seasonally adjusted series for new motor vehicle registrations in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. The small numbers and volatile nature of these data makes reliable estimation of the seasonal pattern very difficult.

10 Seasonally adjusted series are calculated for the ‘Passenger vehicles’, ‘Other vehicles’ and ‘Total vehicles’ series for each State and Territory and are aggregated to obtain the total for Australia.

12 The smoothing of seasonally adjusted series to create trend estimates reduces the impact of the irregular component of the seasonally adjusted series. The trend estimates are derived by applying a 13-term Henderson-weighted moving average to the respective seasonally adjusted series. These trend series are used to analyse the underlying behaviour of the series over time. As a result of the introduction of the New Tax System, a break in the trend series has been inserted between June 2000 and July 2000. Care should therefore be taken in comparing the series over time.

13 While this smoothing technique enables trend estimates to be produced for the latest month, it does result in revisions to the trend estimates for the most recent months as data for subsequent months become available. Generally subsequent revisions become smaller and after three months, usually have a negligible impact on the series. Changes in the original data and re-estimation of seasonal factors may also lead to revisions to the trend. For more information, see A Guide to Interpreting Time Series - Monitoring 'Trends' - an Overview (Cat. no. 1348.0) or contact the Assistant Director, Time Series Analysis on (02) 6252 6345.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

14 For a more detailed break-up of the monthly figures presented here, enquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or to Client Services in any ABS office.

Annual data on the latest total vehicle registrations are published in Motor Vehicle Census, Australia, 31 March 2001 (Cat. no. 9309.0).